The user interface (UI) that comes with your Android device, like the Galaxy line from Samsung, can seem limited. Some users like to spice up their Samsung devices using launchers to customize the interface. These launchers are easy to install and use, and deliver functionality that the stock launchers simply do not have. With a simple setup procedure, you can customize your Galaxy, providing new features and a spiffy look.

Steps

Method1

Using Nova Launcher

1

Get Nova Launcher. Nova Launcher can be downloaded for free on Google Play.

2

Set Nova Launcher as default launcher. After installing Nova Launcher, hit the Home button on your Galaxy device to bring up the prompt that will let you choose which launcher to use every time you press the Home button. Select Nova Launcher from the options, and tap “ALWAYS” at the lower right corner of the pop-up.

3

Inspect your new UI. After choosing Nova Launcher as your new UI, you will see that the home screen changes dramatically compared to the default TouchWiz. For instance, the Google search bar will be located at the top of the home screen instead of the middle in most Galaxy devices. It also does away with the My Magazine feature in the home screen on most flagship Galaxy devices. Furthermore, the markers for home pages on the bottom of the home screen will have circular shapes instead of the default TouchWiz squares.

Nova uses the same design as the stock Android launcher, with lots of tweaks regarding the customizability of the whole user interface, including the home screen, app drawer, and other animations. Tinker around with the interface and see which elements you like and dislike.

4

Launch Nova Settings. Tap and hold a blank space in the home screen to bring up the home screen customization menu. Tap the wrench icon at the top right corner of the pop-up to launch Nova Settings.

Alternatively, you can launch Nova Settings from the app drawer by tapping on its icon (which is the same as the Nova Launcher icon, only with a settings icon in the middle instead of the Home icon).

5

Tweak the UI. After playing around with the interface, like opening the app drawer, swiping through home screens, and whatnot, you can tweak the UI to your liking by using Nova Settings. In Nova Settings, you will see a host of customization options categorized according to the UI elements they affect (e.g., Desktop [home screen], Drawer [app drawer], Dock, Folders, etc.) Tapping on these categories will open a submenu where you can tweak the element to your liking.

For instance, tapping “Desktop” will open the Desktop submenu where you can choose the size of the home screen grid by tapping on the Desktop Grid under “LAYOUT.” Here, you can choose how many rows to use by sliding the rolling number line under “Rows,” and then the same with “Columns.” You can also enable Subgrid Position by tapping on the checkbox below the number lines to allow widgets to snap halfway through grid cells. Tapping “OK” at the lower right corner will apply your changes and make the home screen reflect your choices.

Tapping the “Dock” menu button in Nova Settings will open up customization options for the row of shortcuts at the bottom of the home screen.

“Dock Background” in the Dock menu will let you choose the background style of the dock. Under the Shape header, you can choose between Platform, Rectangle, Rounded, or Arc background shapes, while tapping on the Tint option under Content will let you choose the color the background will take. Lastly, the Transparency slider in the bottom will let you choose the Alpha percentage so you can make it as transparent or solid as you like.

“Dock Pages” in the Dock settings chooses the number of pages the dock will have. You can swipe the dock to switch between pages.

Tapping on the “Look & Feel” button will take you to customization options involving animation speeds, icon size and more.

Tap “Icon Theme” at the top of the Look & Feel menu to choose an Icon Theme to replace your current one. By default, Nova takes the stock Android icon themes. You may download Icon Theme packs from the Play Store, and apply them using this menu.

Icon size and font will let you choose the size of icons via the slider that will pop up. A similar slider is also available for the icon font at the bottom.

Scroll speed will let you change the speed of the animations when transitioning between home screens. These are the options arranged In ascending order in terms of speed: Relaxes, Stock, Nova, Fast, and Faster than Light. These also apply to the other animation options under Look & Feel, like Animation speed (for transitional animations like opening the app drawer or folders) and App animation (which affect the animation speed at which Nova will open apps and return to the home screen).

You can change folder options by tapping on “Folders.” Here you will see options to customize Folder Preview, background, as well as transition animations. Tap “Folder preview” to choose between Stack, Grid, Fan, and Line. These are the arrangements of the icons that are inside a particular folder in the home screen. “Folder Background” will let you choose the shape of the background behind a folder. Options include Circle, Square, Platform, and Disc.

There are many customization options in Nova Launcher, making it a great choice for making your Galaxy device truly your own.

6

Tweak the home screen. Apart from Desktop customizations in Nova Settings, you can add widgets and apps to your home screen to personalize it. Tap and hold an empty section in the home screen to bring up the customization menu.

Tap “Widgets” to add them. Widgets help you get quick info or shortcut buttons by choosing them from the list. Tap a widget, and you will be made to choose a widget size indicated below the widget name, so tap on the widget size you want to add it to the home screen. Tap and hold the widget, and drag it to the desired spot on the home screen to reposition it. Tapping and holding the widget will cause the device to vibrate and show dots on the widget border. Drag these dots to resize the widget to your liking.

Tap “Apps” to add app shortcuts to the home screen. Select from the list of apps to add a single app shortcut, or tap on the “SELECT MULTIPLE” button in the lower left corner to show checkboxes on each app. Tap on the checkboxes of all the apps your wish to add, and tap the “ADD” button in the lower right to add them.

Choose “Wallpapers” to customize your home screen by tapping on Wallpapers. Nova will open a wallpaper selection screen, in which you can scroll down to choose the wallpaper you wish to use. Select “Live wallpapers” by swiping to the left, and choosing from those installed on your device.

7

Add Custom Gesture Controls. Gesture controls offer quick ways to open applications or perform toggle actions. In Nova Settings, tap “Gestures and Buttons” below “Look & feel.” Under the GESTURES header, you will see a list of gestures you can map applications and actions to.

For instance, tapping the “Pinch In” gesture will open up the “Choose action” menu. You will see three tabs: NOVA, APPS, and SHORTCUTS. Under “Nova,” you will see things like “Add Drawer,” “Show Previews,” and “Toggle Notification Bar,” to name a few. Selecting these will map the action to the “Pinch In” gesture, so when you go back to your home screen and pinch into the screen with two fingers, it will execute that action.

Play around with the various shortcuts and app launching operations using gestures to get a customized UI experience on your Galaxy device.

8

Back up your custom UI. In the Nova Settings menu, scroll down and tap “Backup and Import.” Under the BACKUP header, tap “Backup” to open a prompt. Type the name of the backup in the text field (by default it uses the date and time as the name) and then the backup location under the text field to select where you want to store the backup data (external SD card or internal memory). This helps you keep the settings saved, which is useful for when you do a factory restore but do not want to go through setting up Nova over again.

Method2

Using Themer

1

Use Themer as your default launcher. After installing Themer, press the Home key on your Galaxy device to bring up the home screen app selection pop-up. Tap the Themer icon, a multicolored icon in the shape of a phone with a “t” in the lower left corner. This will bring you to your new default theme using Themer.

2

Open the Themer menu. You will notice the dramatic change between your old TouchWiz home screen and the Themer home screen. You can begin customizing the interface by opening the Themer menu with a tap and hold of an empty area in the home screen. You will notice a control panel that pops up at the bottom of the screen, with buttons like “Themes,” “Settings,” “Apps,” “Widgets,” and so on.

Alternatively, you can launch the settings panel by tapping on the menu button on your Galaxy device.

3

Download a new theme. Themes are free to download over Themer. You can choose new themes by downloading them through Themer. Tap the “Themes” button in the customization panel. This will open the Themer theme repository where creators upload their themes for you to enjoy. There are four tabs: HOME, CATEGORIES, FAVORITES, and HISTORY. For now, concern yourself only with the Home and Categories tabs since you are using Themer for the first time.

In the HOME tab, you will see the themes under Featured and Trending headers. Previews are shown to give you a peek of what the theme is like. You can also choose themes from the CATEGORIES tab by tapping it and choosing from categories, like games, cars, colorful, and so forth.

Tap a theme to see screenshots of what the theme looks like. Tap the “Apply” button at the lower right corner to download and use the theme.

After tapping apply, you will be asked if you would like to import the icons you used in your previous theme. You can tap the checkbox at the bottom of the pop-up to set whether to ask next time. Tap the “OK” button on the lower right corner of the pop-up to begin downloading the theme.

4

Customize the theme’s settings. Open the Themer settings panel by tapping and holding the home screen or tapping the menu button, and then tapping the gear icon for the Settings button. Here you will have access to the many customization options for Themer, like Email and SMS settings, where you can configure what SMS or email app Themer will use when you tap the mail or SMS icon in the home screen. Other such settings include enabling icon badges by tapping on the “Icon Badges” button below the “Email and SMS” button. These badges show up in front of icons when you have notifications involving those apps. For instance, when you have an unread email in Gmail, you will see a “1” badge in front of the Gmail icon in the home screen indicating 1 unread email.

Themer also features gesture mapping in the home screen. Tap the “Gestures” button under the Themer Settings to open the menu. Like Nova Launcher, gestures are listed in the menu, along with their respective icons. To map a gesture, tap it and you will be shown a menu. Under the Themer Actions tab are actions that involve controlling the Themer home screen, like opening the app drawer and minimizing the notification panel. Under the Applications tab, you will be able to map application shortcuts to a gesture, so Themer will launch that app whenever you perform the gesture.

Tap the “App Preferences” button under Themer Settings to change the default app that will launch when pressing an icon in your new Themer home screen. For instance, you can change the SMS app that will launch when you press the SMS icon in the home screen by tapping on “SMS” in the App Preferences menu. A list of installed apps will pop up, where you can then choose the SMS app that you wish Themer will map to the SMS icon in the home screen.

There are a host of configuration options available to you in the Settings menu on Themer, so tinker around to see what you can change in order to make your new themed UI cater to your every preference.

5

Add widgets. In the Themer menu, tap the “Widgets” button at the rightmost of the first row in the menu. You will see a grid of the widgets that you can add, along with their previews. Tap and hold the widget of your choice, and drag it to a part of the home screen you want to add a widget to.

If you wish to add it to an adjacent home screen, drag the widget to the respective edge of the screen at which point the home screen preview will change to the next one.

Release the widget once you have it hovering right over the area where you want it placed.

6

Change the wallpaper. In the Themer menu, tap the “Wallpaper” button at the lower left corner. Tap the “Change Wallpaper” button at the middle-left of the panel to bring up the image-selection wizard. Tap the upper left menu button to select the directory in which the image of your choice is located. Tap an image you wish to use, and the image-editing menu will come up.

Drag the dots on the sides to resize the image, and drag from the inside of the rectangle to select the area that will be made into the wallpaper. Tap the rotation button at the bottom to rotate the image, and then tap “SAVE” at the lower right corner. Tap the “APPLY” button on the lower right corner of the wallpaper panel to use the wallpaper.

7

Save your theme. Themer allows you to save a theme that you have modified, so you can take a theme and tweak it to your liking. Tap the “SAVE” button at the lower right corner of the Themer menu to save the theme settings. You can access the theme in the HISTORY tab in the Themes menu.

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Tips

Like Nova, Themer is a launcher application that changes the look and feel of your Galaxy albeit with more drastic changes with each theme you install. With Themer, you get the launcher, but must download additional themes that you can use. You can download as many themes as you want, and customize them with their own settings parameters.

To go back to using TouchWiz, head to the Settings menu by swiping down from the notification panel and tapping the gear icon in the upper right corner. Scroll to the “Apps” button in the Settings menu and tap it. Tap the ALL tab in the Apps menu, scroll down to Nova Launcher (apps are listed alphabetically), and tap the “Clear Defaults” button under the DEFAULTS header. This will bring up the home launcher prompt again, where you can then hit the “ALWAYS” button under TouchWiz to use it as your default home screen app once more.